AR: Magical Mystery Tour

The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

Everybody else is writing about these guys this week, so ... just kidding. Sure, Beatles Rock Band is coming out Wednesday, original mastering editions of all of their albums are being released (AND mono versions of most of them, egads!), but really, I promise MMT came up nice and natural-like in the review queue. And it's pretty appropriate that this would be the first Beatles album that I give a whirl, given that it is the first Beatles album I bought. Yep, really. An active choice, actually: circa 1992, my Duke TIP roommate Ben had been talking about something good that had happened but that was not really a big deal; I replied, "Nothing to write home about," in a sing-songy misquote of "Strawberry Fields Forever." "Nice," Ben said earnestly, "we should listen to some Beatles. Do you have any?" No I did not (I did all my Beatles-listening at home on my dad's CDs), and a trip to the record store was born. We surveyed all of the available Beatles albums, and while certainly part of the reason we opted for this one was that it contained the aforementioned "SFF," it was really the whole of the back half that got us - just a ridiculous string of elite song after elite song. We grabbed MMT and listened the HELL out of the disc for the next week straight, particularly that Side B (or tracks 6-11). The disc, natch, has a certain Durham-association to it for me.

What I thought of as Side B, I came to learn years later, is actually only one song from the MMT EP proper ("Walrus") and five Beatles singles from 1967. So it's almost a 1967 Beatles Non-Album Greatest Hits Album, and the fact that it's not a selection - it just *is* the singles from 1967 - speaks to how ridiculously great this band was that year (and every year). Song by song:

"Hello Goodbye" - The height of Paul pop. It got brutally dismissed as "trash" or something equally derogatory by John in later years, but it really is expert pleasantry in spite of its allegedly non-serious message (one that could be read, after all, as a sort of yin-yang centered frustration). For such a simple melody and simple game of wordplay in the lyrics, there is a ton going on in this track - ascending and descending melodic lines, pulsating strings, and one of my favorite sets of back-up vocals in a Beatles song (when John's reverby back-lines catch up with Paul's lead in the (I think) third verse). And repeated theme here - this is one of many tracks on this album with a fake ending, closing the song with a warbly "Hello-o-o" vocal but then tacking on a "Hey-La" stomp at the end. One of Paul's greatests, and a personal favorite of sunny pop.

"Strawberry Fields Forever" - from the opening mellotron to the rumbling guitar to the swelling cellos to the horn accents to a really intense drum march to the reverse-tape effects to the psychedelic slur of a vocal ... just a fantastic song, in the running for best Beatles tune ever. Something enchanting in John's weary vocal, and the indecision over whether this escapist trip into the unreal will be grand or scary resonates. Also love the way no two verses sound the same. Another one with a fake ending, it delivers the last chorus and goes into a jam fade-out, but then fades back in with a dissonant, circus music acid trip section. Folk psychedelia par excellence.

"Penny Lane" - reportedly my dad's favorite Beatles song (at least for a while), it's another one in the Paul-pop vein. An unbearably upbeat piano and horns number (complete with piccolo/sped up trumpet solo in the middle), even with its minor key verse-backs, this just brings miles of smiles. Incredible, evocative lyrics bring the scene to mind's forefront, and Paul's "Meanwhile By" verse and chorus links give the song a great, narrative vignette feel. This song even has a gratuitous key-change in its last chorus that I don't mind at all. Melodic perfection.

"Baby You're a Rich Man" - Morons will tell you that this is sort of a middling number, some kind of lesser accomplishment in the catalog. Being morons, they are wrong. Though there is a dangerous irony in the Beatles of all people sneering about others being among the beautiful people, that chugging rhythm bass line with piano vamps and falsetto verse vocal slays me every time. There's also a brilliantly weird keyboard effect that sounds like a reverse-tape (a "snake-charmer" effect, as AMG puts it) and one of the best sing-along choruses on the album. I love the mystic feel of this more than anything else.

"All You Need is Love" - Entertainment Weekly recently released a list of the top 50 and bottom 5 of all Beatles songs, and, being morons, they listed "AYNiL" as both the number 50 and worst song of the Beatles catalog. Ha, ha, I get it, EW. But you're off. This simplistic uber-hippie anthem is fantastic. Yes, the chorus is goofily simple-minded and repetitive. But behind that simplicity is a gigantic symphony blaring the French national anthem, carrying the simple melody with jaunty aplomb, and collapsing into an amalgam of teases of popular tunes from throughout the 20th century. The verses are in 7/4, for pete's sake!* John delivers an odd quasi-stoic / zen lead vocal** of all the things that you cannot affect but can somehow overcome. This really is an exemplary tune of the hippie aesthetic - it's got that surface level message of sing-along "love" if that's all your "dooooood"-based mind is looking for, but if you want to actually engage why there's a whole lot of sad guitar being answered by that ebullient chorus, you can get plenty out of it. Plus, it's like, super catchy.

* - And that's not even right - it's 7/4, 7/4, 8/4, 7/4. Seriously, listen for it. That's not "simple," EW!

** - I have a similar problem with the John superb classic "Imagine," in that people tend to read it as this ultimate vision of peace and unity - which it is - but refuse to hear that it attempts to get there via a pretty severe, iconoclastic vision of modern civilization. No possessions, no religion, no heaven/hell - he isn't exactly saying "Let's all just get along," he's saying that there are some serious changes that would need to occur en route. I don't care how pretty the piano chords are, no possessions = no 9/10ths of the law! It's an essentially atheist, humanist message, making it all the more bizarre that it occasionally is played in churches sans second thought. And I admire it even more for that - not for some naive hope for peace, but a recognition that is other things that we hold dear that would need to fall to be able to even imagine it. It's a similar notion here, that people get the "AYNiL" message but fail to hear the "no miracles possible" tone of the verse. Don't try to do what's impossible, let love be your guide and you will accomplish all you are realistically able. I mean, "nothing you do that can't be done ... nothing you can know that isn't known ... nowhere you can be which isn't where you're meant to be." This is about limitations (and being at home with them) at least as much as it is about the power of love. Recognize, people! I mean, "Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game?" Why is that not just a statement of chin-up against futility? Argh.

So the back half is off the charts. The original EP, while strong, doesn't quite match up (how could it)? In fact, in the Help! to Let it Be run, I would probably put this in the third weakest slot, well ahead of Yellow Submarine and ahead of Let it Be and maybe slightly behind Help! You know, for whatever that's worth. The songs:

"Magical Mystery Tour" - A blaring opener - one very similar to the Sgt. Pepper's opening track in terms of trying to establish a frame for the album. And for me, it works, as the happy-go-lucky, come-along-with-us vibe of this tract really is just as infectious as its melody is catchy. Lots of brass, a cool stuttering trumpet line in the chorus, a whooshing weird "Mystery Trip" bridge, a Ringo rock drum breakdown to start an speed-up-tempo to the end, and yet another weird ending sound collage all make for a cool tune and a classic album opener. Goofy and fun.

"Fool on the Hill" - Another catchy-chorus Paul tune, this one darker than most, and it has that nice weird circus-esque recorder solo in the middle plus the more-exuberant repeated bridge-type sections. I've never entirely been grabbed by this one; I like it enough, and I appreciate the simple arrangement / tight melody, but maybe it's just a bit too much Paul for me. (The "too much Paul" phenomenon is best exemplified by "The Long & Winding Road" off Let it Be ... so to whatever extent this song is like that one, that's what's keeping me from buying in).

"Flying" - Another EW bottom fiver, and further proof of moron-hood. This is the rare Beatle instrumental, and I have always loved its groove trance and laid-back vibe. Plus, it's maybe the best-named instrumental song ever - it's impossible to hear this and not picture yourself floating above the clouds. Metaphorically or otherwise :). Another breakdown into dissonant tape loop and keyboard weirdness, btw. Great, soothing tune.

"Blue Jay Way" - Or what possibly should have been named "Please Don't Be-long," given the number of times that line is uttered. This is a moody, somber George piece, supposedly about not "be-long"ing to mainstream culture. Full of cellos, effects, warbled backing and somewhat monotone lead vocals, this is easily the least inspiring track on the album. Sorry George.

"Your Mother Should Know" - Another goofy retro Paul effort, this is kinda "When I'm Sixty-Four" Redux, but it's still great. A vaudeville piano tune for all purposes - appropriate enough, given the title - it's well-executed for what it is, and I do love those sliding backing vocals. Silly and catchy, and in the Beatlesverse, this is what qualifies as a toss-away.

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A quick break, just to give the next one its deserved space
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"I Am the Walrus" - Iamheisyouareheisyouaremeandwearealltogether, indeed. This pretty much *is* psychedelia for me, pastiche weirdness with stream-of-consciousness lyrics, layered effects, self-reference ("Lucy in the Sky"), and one of the best song breakdowns ("I'm Cryyyyyyyyy-ing") followed by an even better breakdown ("Sitting in an English garden...") followed by a triumphant final verse with har-har-hars and a last chorus. It would be only exuberant weirdness if it weren't also a great song - tons of melodic accents are just falling to the ground throughout this number, and the descent into kitchen-sink chaos is perfect. An all-time great before you even wrap your head around the fact that three years before this band was singing about holding hands. Incredible.

So the EP is still quite good, though again, pales compared to the other half. The couple of less-great moments are sadly enough to keep this out of my Desert Island travel bag; I've always thought of this as a collection of a lot of Desert Island songs but not necessarily a DI disc. Still, it contains a number of my favorite Beatles tracks from the thick of their experimental era, and it'll always hold a special place - I can't tell you how many times "Flying" and "Baby You're a Rich Man" soothed bad high school days. I loved the consistent effort to inject weirdness - often in offbeat codas - into even the poppiest of songs. Blah blah blah; this disc is obviously vital to any semi-competent music lover's collection, and even if it's getting there via the most shameless promotion scheme I've witnessed in quite some time, I am glad with all the mayhem happening tomorrow, the new generation will be belting "Nothing to get hung about" out their XBoxes.

Status: Recommended
Nyet's Fave: "Baby You're a Rich Man"